25 Get to Know Me Questions

Picking up the inspiration from Confuzzledom, who got the idea from another blogger, I decided to do a Question-and-Answer post based on the one she did, though I changed some of the questions. I do always enjoy reading these types of posts by and about other bloggers, so it's only fair that I reveal a few more details about myself as well. It feels rather narcissistic when I do this, but I don't consider it so when others do it. Hm.

So here we go. (I'm keeping the British spelling from Bevchen's list of questions because I feel like it.)

1. What is your middle name?   Ann. As Bevchen from Confuzzledom said, it's a very middle-namey kind of name. It's my daughter's, as well.

2. What was your favourite subject at school?  English, though I also really liked German class.

3. What is your favourite drink?  Mineral water (with gas) during the day, white wine in the evening.

4. What is your favourite song right now?  "Reflections of Earth" - all 9 minutes 32 seconds of it. This is the song from the closing show of EPCOT at Disney World. I tend to prefer inspirational music without lyrics.

5. What is your favourite food?  What's with all the "favourite" questions?!?  I don't have a favourite food. But there are three things I won't eat - beans, olives, and coconut.

6. What is the last thing you bought (besides groceries)?  Potted herbs (Zitronenthymian and Rosemary) as a gift for my Syrian students who invited my mom and me for dinner, and another Orchid for our living room.

7. Favourite book of all time?  The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. And the Prophet, by Kahlil Gibran. And 35 others.

8. Favourite colour?  Purple - all shades. Bay for favourite horse colour, and sable for Collies.

Neither my focus nor the rider's leg position is perfect,
but this beautiful horse is bay.

old scanned photo of my sable-and-white Collie, Tess

9. Do you have any pets?  No. I grew up with a Sheltie, and if I outlive my husband, I'll probably have a Collie again at some point. But life without pets is really nice and free.

10. Where did your ancestors come from?  Finland, Germany, and England. I'm a direct descendant of John & Priscilla Alden, who went to the US on the Mayflower. See Longfellow's poem "The Courtship of Miles Standish" or this link.

11. Favourite holiday?  To Americans, "holidays" are days off from work rather than trips, which we call vacations. So my favourite holiday is Easter. Cheerful colours, Spring, cute brown bunnies with long floppy ears...

12. Are you married?  Yes.

13. Have you ever been out of the country? If so, how many times?  I've been out of my passport country 25 times, and out of Germany nine times since moving here.

14. Do you speak any other language?  Assuming English is on the other side of "other", I speak German and a handful of sentences and words in Swahili.

15. How many siblings do you have?  I have one brother.

16. What is your favourite shop? I don't have one. I do not enjoy shopping except in bookstores.

17. Favourite restaurant?  Straub's Krone in Bildechingen.

Straub's Krone

the owner and Chefkoch at Straub's Krone

18. When was the last time you cried? I got choked up watching the film Honig im Kopf for the second time in February, but I haven't really cried (as in sobbing) in many years. The last time I couldn't speak because of emotion was at my German host dad's funeral. My own sadness doesn't affect me much, but other people's sadness breaks my heart.

19. Favourite blog?  I am really not going to play favourites on this one.

20. Favourite films?  Nirgendwo in Afrika, Dances with Wolves, Robin Hood (with Kevin Costner), the Holiday, and any number of other films depending on my mood.

21. Are there any places you would never want to travel to?  Yes - Mexico, India, and China. Include the U.S. if Trump gets elected.

22. PC or Mac?  PC. We don't have any Apple products.

23. What phone do you have?  Let me check...As far as I can tell, it's a black Motorola smart phone.

24. How tall are you? I'm 5 feet, 4 inches, or 163cm tall.

25. What's one thing that bothers you about you?  There are several, but one thing that drives me nuts is that my face gets shockingly red really easily - sometimes for no reason at all. I wish I could control that.

Ok, blogger friends, who's next?!?